Their meeting at Euro '96 was one of the big let downs of the tournament, but it's hard to imagine tomorrow's meeting between the world champions and their rivals not producing an interesting contest.

The Spanish, by their admission, have disappointed in their group games and were extremely fortunate to make it this far. Luck, though, is not a bad thing to have on one's side in a championship finals and confidence has rocketed in Jose Antonio Camacho's camp since the lastgasp defeat of Yugoslavia.

The form of Barcelona's Josep "Pep" Guardiola and Alfonso of Real Betis in that game was especially encouraging for their team manager, and if Raul continues to shine then the famed French defence should at least find themselves with a game on their hands.

Full back Michel Salgado expects Zinedine Zidane to be the main threat to the Spanish defence, but he insists that, while his side won't take too much account of their opposition, they are prepared.

"We can't allow them to play that simple ball behind us from midfield," says the former Celta Vigo man who is now a key figure in the Real Madrid side. "But we have our own way of playing and we're not going to abandon it just for this game".

Camacho, who rested seven players during training yesterday, has most to worry about over his skipper, Fernando Hierro, who missed Wednesday's 4-3 win with a thigh strain. A scan yesterday revealed no great problems, though, and the chances are that the Spanish coach will probably play the commanding defender from the start.

The French, needless to say, will make plenty of changes for this game with many of those who got a run out against the Dutch in the final group game now certain to return to the dug out.

Coach Roger Lemerre says that he expects the game to be "difficult and competitive", but that "the quarter-finals are for great teams" and that, for the most part, will mean the players who were the backbone of the World Cup-winning side of two summers ago.

Several squad members did quite well in Amsterdam, but the only serious selection issue for the manager is whether to start with Arsenal's Patrick Vieira or Youri Djorkaeff.

He will, however, probably be without Vieira's clubmate, Emmanuel Petit, again. The midfielder, who hurt his knee during the Czech Republic game, has been unable to train since and is not expected to figure, at least at the outset.